Method of decorating candles and the product thereof



April 28, 1953 G. A. KRAMER ,6

METHOD OF DECORATING CANDLES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Filed Dec. 11. 19484 Sheets-Sheet 1 GIDEON A. KRAMER Snnentor attorney;

April-28, 1953 e. A. KRAMER 2,635,370

METHOD OF DECORATING CANDLES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Filed Dec. 11. 19484 Sheets-Sheet 2 GIDEON- A. KRAMER Jmaentor (Ittomeg;

April 28, 1953 G. A. KRAMER 2,636,370

METHOD OF DECORATING CANDLES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Filed Dec. 11. 19484 Sheets-Sheet 5 AAJLJTF'L GIDEON A. KRAMER IFIG I3 April 28, 1953 e. A.KRAMER 2,636,370 METHOD 0? DECORATING CANDLES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOFFiled bee. 11. 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 GIDEON A KRAMER 3nventor attorneysPatented Apr. 28, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE .ME'EHOD OFDECORATING CANDLES AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Gideon A. Kramer, Seattle,Wash.

Application December 11, 1948, Serial No. 67,021

Claims (01. 67-225) This-invention relates to a method of decoratingcandles and the product thereof and, more specifically, to the treatmentand ornamentation of candle surfaces by etching and by the surfacedeposition of waxy material relative such etched areas.

This invention also contemplates the production of novel candles as aresult of my method.

- Candles have been treated in a variety of ways to produce ornamentaleffects and various surface I configurations. have been variously dip edin contrasting colored In the prior art, candles wax or paint materials;they have been hand painted, stained or dyed; they have been hand ormachine engraved or otherwise tooled; and

pre-formed objects have been adhesively applied to the surface. Theresults have been adhesively applied to the surface. The results havebeen varied but primarily are marked either by ex- Both methods areobjectionable for obvious reasons. .ilttempts have been made tomechanically print or paint candles but little success has been attainedbecause of the disafiinity of the printing inks or paints with the'waxy'base materials of the candles and because of the great amount ofmanual labor involved.

Having in mind the foregoing; it is an important object of thisinvention to provide: a

method of ornamenting and decorating candles with attractive andmulti-colored designs; a

method which can be practiced simply and effi'cie'ntly withoutmaterially adding to cost of the product; a method that does not requireundue amounts of labor and can be performed by relatively unskilledpersons; a method that can be rapidly performed with relatively simpleequip-- ll'll'lli; and a method that can'be varied so that with a fewsimple aids a worker can produce a -myriad'of designs in ornamentedcandles.

' A further object of the invention has been to combine, in such anornamenting process, an etching, and, at the same time, surfacedeposition of the candle to produce striking and highly "ornamentaleffects without undue expense or without requiring highly skilled labor.

Another object of the invention has been the provision of means that aresimpleto construct "and use for the simultaneous surface etching anddeposition of oandlesto: produce ornamentaleffects, and which means isdurablc'and easily operated-by persons ofslight skill'and training andpermits multi-color applications with a highde- .greeof register betweencomponents of a design.

One other object of the invention has been the provision of a candlethat has its surface ornamented with surface-deposited color elevmentscomposing a design subject that has all the characteristics ofmulti-color printing operations onother media.

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto I prefer toaccomplish as follows:

, According to a preferred embodiment of my method I employ a candle ofeither molded or dipped form, and engrave or etch the same with a heatedpattern-holder. I can also simultaneously overlay the candle about theetchedarea with a surface deposited. color-contracting waxy materialthat has an afiinity for the base ma- .terial from which the candle isformed. Specifically, a design pattern-holder is formed of thinedgedheat conducting material and disposed so that the upper edges of thepattern-holderlie in a substantially horizontal plane. Heat is suppliedto the pattern-holder and when the candle is rolled thereover it willmelt into the surface. of

the candle causing the same to be etched where contact is had. Themelted wax flows away from the face edges of the design pattern-holderand down the walls thereof. In this way a line design of a snow flakemay beproduced, since the design is merely etched into the surface ofthe candle. In such case, it is preferable to use a candle that has athin outer skin of a color that contrasts with the body color of thecandleso that the latter. is exposed when the patternholder etchesthrough the skin covering. By employing a pattern-holder that iscontinuousrand outlines the design, a poolof colored melted wax can becontained within the design. Then, when the candle is rolled over thepattern-holder, not

only is the candle heat-engraved or etched, but a thin deposit of thewax from the pool is obtained upon the surface of the candle within theconfines of the outlined and. etched design. By this arrangement, adesign motif, such as a leaf, an apple, a star,or the like, may beformed. The melted wax from the pool, which will usually be opaque orcontrasting to the surface of the candle, films the area within theetching as determined by the design of the pattern-holder, and alsofills the etched grooves sot-hat in the final product the wax in thegrooves is deeper in color than that forming the film. Thus, I obtain.both a for the practice of my method is quite simple and preferablycomprises a metallic base element to which heat can be supplied and onwhich a securely mounted pattern-holder can be mounted. I usually formthe pattern-holder of metallic strips of the nature of printers rules,and I have found it quite satisfactory to solder them in place upon thebase element. Such a pattern-holder, of course, can be cast or otherwiseproduced. Heat is'conducted from the base element upward through thepattern-holder so that it is delivered to the upwardly directed, thin,etching edges of the pattern-holder. When a candle contacts the heatedpattern-holder and is allowed to sink slightly, the candle will have aportion etched out. If the pattern-holder is closed, or the design issuch that there are no gaps in its periphery and wax is supplied withinthe pattern-holder, both etching and surface deposition take place. Thevariety of patterns that can be formed and applied by this method isunlimited, and I have found that high quality work can be produced withrelatively unskilled workmen having only a slight degree of previoustraining.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure l is a view of a candle in elevation, showing a simpledesign etched thereon;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the patternholder employed in etchingthe candle of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of a candle having an etched andsurface-deposited design applied thereto;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the patternholder for applying thedesign shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a view in elevation of a candle having a spiral patternapplied thereto by etching and surface deposition with opaque material;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the patternholder employed in applyingthe pattern shown in Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a view in elevation showing a candle having a two colorspiral ornamentation applied thereto;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the patternholder for decorating thecandle in Figure '7;

Figure 9 is an enlarged diagrammatic crosssectional view through apattern-holder and candle illustrating the manner of etching and surfacedeposition I employ in ornamenting the candles;

Figure 10 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view showing in detailthe etching of a candle with a heated pattern-holder element;

Figure 11 is a perspective view of another form of candle as ornamentedaccording to my invention;

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the machine useful in the practice ofmy process of ornamenting candles;

Figure 13 is a vertical, elevational view across the machine of Figure12 with portions shown in section for convenience of illustration;

Figure 14 is an enlarged, perspective view of a candle-rotating cup ofthe machine of Figure 12;

Figure 15 is an enlarged, perspective view of a second candle-rotatingcup of the machine of Figure 12;

Figure 16 is a perspective view of a level-winding mechanism employed inthe machine of Figure 12.

In Figures 1 and 2 I illustrate a simple form of candle ornamentationand means for producing the same. On the candle of Figure 1 I haveapplied a snowflake design element by means of the simple snow crystalpattern-holder 20 of Figure 2. To the base 22, which is here shown to becylindrical and preferably is of thin-wall construction from sheetmetal, I mount the patternholder 20, which has been formed of smallpieces of metal joined together with stems and branches that willimpress the crystalline form upon a candle. The base 22 is placed upon aheater such, for example, as a hot-plate and conducts heat upward to thepattern-holder 20. A candle is brought into contact with the upper edgesof the pattern-holder and rolled thereover, whereupon the heated metalwill melt the candle covering and cause it to be etched out. When awhite core candle is used and the surface, let us say, is blue, a whitesnowflake will appear on the candle surface as shown in Figure 1.Normally, the candles used have a melting point of about F. up to F.,and I have found that etching can best be carried on when thepatternholder has a temperature slightly above the melting point of thewax. ince the amount of heat applied to the pattern-holder is lowrelative the wax melting point and is transmitted to the candle in alocalized condition, there is no appreciable softening of the core ofthe candle, and since the proportion of mass to heated pattern-holder isslight, such heat is readily absorbed and the etched or deposited areacan be immediately handled without obliteration of detail.

As etching takes place and wax is being removed from the surface of thecandle, it flows readily down and away from the contact face of thepattern-holder 20 onto the upper face of base 22. I, therefore, employ arim 25 around the top of the base which will contain the wax as itaccumulates, or the same may be piped away, as will be more fullydescribed hereafter.

In Figures 3 and 4 I have shown a more complex design element, and theseviews, taken with the showing of Figure 9, will further reveal detailsof my method and apparatus used in produc ing ornamentation on candles.The patternholder of Figure 4 includes three design elements, such asthe body of an apple 26, the leaves 27, and the stem 28, all of whichare arranged on base 22 in a natural grouping. The elements 215, 21 and28 are formed of thin metallic strips that are formed and shaped asdesired, and each encloses an area of the design without peripheral gapof any nature. They are soldered in a fluid-tight manner to the base andeach can contain a pool of fluid wax which is separated from the others.If no pool of wax is maintained in the design elements, an etching of acandle in outline is obtained but, by filling the apple-shaped element25 with red wax, the stem element 29 with brown wax, and the leafelements 2'! with green wax, it is possible to produce multi-coloredornamentation upon a candle as shown in Figure 3. The wax in each of thedesign elements is sufficient to lie in the plane of the upper etchingedges of the elements and may even rise in a meniscus to slightlythereabove. When a candle is rolled over the pattern-holder (elements26, 21 and 28) it will be etched as previously described and,simultaneously, a surface deposition of wax will be had upon thecandle;producing in thiscase the "appearance of a red apple having a brownstern and green leaves. The use of the words etch and etching is basedupon the fact that, according to the process herein, there is an in-letdesign or pattern element engraved or produced upon the surface of thecandle in which the lines of the design are incised into the bodymaterial of the candle by means of an action obtained to remove bodymaterial through the use of a heated bladelike member which thermallyaccomplishes the etching or wax removal.

Each part of this design will have at leasttwo densities of color forthe reasonthat the etched groove will contain colored wax to adepth'g'reate'r than that of the space within the design'part. i'hereason for this is shown in Figure 11, wherein a candle 30, having awick 32, is shown being rolled over a design element. A. pool 33 of waxis enclosed. by the wall'3 i. When the candle contacts the heated edgeMi, a groove '52 is etched into the body of candle 3|] and isimmediately filled by wax from pool as which, at the same time,is'congealing in a film 44 on the candle within the boundary defined. bythe groove 12.

Since the wax in the groove is deeper than the wax film M, a greaterdepth of color is obtained about the periphery of the design and, inefiect. the latter is outlined. A similar situation arises when asecondary wall M5 is enclosed within the pattern-holder Wall and anintermediate groove 48 is formed and filled with wax from pool 38. Inthis way. it is possible to not only provide the outline of a leaf but,also, to include the veins of a leaf by arranging vein-like etchingblades in the pattern-holder. A person skilled in the art has nodifficulty in realizing that this arrangement will permit wide varietiesof designs to be produced with substantial amounts of detail in theornament produced.

Such wax as flows away from the candle when it is etched mingles withthe wax of the pool or flows away down the outer sides of thepatternholder and may be disposed of as described. Again, since the massof the candle 3% to the amount of film -that is deposited is great, thefilm rapidly hardens and is not obliterated even though it may beimmediately handled by the operator. r

The candle of Figure 5 is shown decorated with a riband design elementthat is particularly attractive and quite effective when strong contrastbetween the color of the riband to the color of the candle body isobtained. This design is produced by the mechanism of Figure 6,including the base 52 formed of bottom wall 50, side walls 5! and top53, which support the pattern-holder comprising the mid-portion 54 andthe ends 55 and 55. Ihe design illustrated in Figure 5 extends fromend-to-end of the candle and begins with a waved ribbon-end joined tothe elongated, spirally wrapped, intermediate portion and terminates ina second waved ribbon-end. This design results from first impressing theheated design of element 55, by rolling the candle thereover and ontothe heated mid-portion 5t, then slowly rotating without materiallyadvancing the candle over the latter at an acute angle thereto to etchthe spiral riband from one end of the candle to the other and thenterminating the operation by rolling he candle over the'heated element55 and 01f the pattern-holder.- During this operation thecandle'is'etched and has a surface deposition of Wax applied thereto inthe manner previously described. By using strong deposition is takingplace.

dyes to c'olo'r'th'e within the ele'ir'ients an'ctby insuring that thecolor ofthe candle-being ornain'nted is not of 'stron'gcolor; wax asflows down into the pools is' not materially diluted, arid uniform colorcharacteristics-ban bemaintained from end-to-end ofthe candleornam'ent.Further, such etching as is carried on at the edges of the designproduces a down flow'of wax from the candle body more'onthe outside ofthe pattern-holder than interiorly, the reason for this being notparticularly clear, but the action is particularly noticeableduring-the. operation.

In' the device of Figure 6, Is'how a means of supplying melted to thepools of the'pattern-holder from a reservoir 58 through condiiits s9,til and ti. the latter 'twdbmmhing from the main pipe fie a'nd runningto the wavy-ended elements of the riband design element. I place meltedwaxdn'the reservoir "58 and apply a float E2 to the pool inthe'reservoir.

Asw'aX is withdrawn from the pools in the design element, the level --inthe reservoir must be lowered to compensate-for that needed'to raise thelevel in the design elements. This compensation is accomplished byincreasing the weight of the float as by adding thereto'weight pieces6%, to the end-that the Weight sinks'in the reservoir and forces "v'v'aXthrough the conduits and to the pattern-holder. Alternately, it will bereadily recognized, the size of the wax pool in the reservoir-may" besubstantially larger than the wax volume of the 'pat'tern elements sothat there is relatively "constant feed of wax from the former to thelatter as surface The base 52 is a tank for containingliquidto receiveand-store heat from a suitablesource. A vent is indicated at 49.

There are several Ways in which wax may be supplied to thepattern-holders. Probably the simplest is to merely sift in particles ofwax of a desired colorand low melting point so that it will rapidly meltunder the influence of heat supplied to the pattern-holder. I havefound, also, that it is often convenient to have containers of meltedwax properly colored and located near the scene of operation and totransfer such to the pattern-holder by 'me'ans of an eye dropper-or thelike.

An example is shown in Figure 8,"which is' the pattern-holder that Iemploy in producing a multicolored, spirally wrapped design of the'nature shown in Figure 7. In this case, two spaced apart ribbons areformed on the candle by means of the thin pattern elements Til and '72that are mounted on base-22, each of which merges with an'enlargedreservoir portion "Ml in which wax is maintained in substantial quantityin melted condition. "As the operator starts the operation with thedev'ice'of Figure 8, he

positions the candle at an acute angle tothe median between elements itand 12 and I rotates the candle, laying on a spiral design from ou'slyturn the candle about its own axis. Rel- "atively little skill isrequiredto obtain neatresu-l-ts i and an attractive appearance.

-' Another phase of the operation" arises when etching is applied to apreviously produced overlay film forming a part of a design. Let it beassumed that the candle body is white and in a scene a blue sky is shownin which is desired to suggest stars. In such an instance, I form astar-shaped patternholder I8 of Figure 10, and mount the same on a stem19 that rises above the base 22. When the latter is properly heated,such a blue area may be etched with stars merely by contacting thepatternholder I8 and causing a portion of the blue overlay to flow away.Sharp edged detail is easily obtainable and, with a strong contrast incolors, very desirable effects can be had.

In other types of operations, it occasionally is the desire of anoperator to produce designs that tend to be more modern and arbitrary.An example is shown in Figure 9 in which I have overlayed round-corneredrectangular shapes so that variations in depth of deposit are obtainedas where the elements overlap with two layers of film being applied atthe overlap. The film hardens so rapidly that such an operation as this,which is carried on with but a single pattern-holder, can be performedwithout interruption and without obliteration of the design by theoperators handling of the candle as he turns and moves it.

Referring now to Figure 121 et seq., there will be seen upright supportsIIU spaced apart from each other and which support and position therails H2 upon which roll the carriages H4 and H5. These carriages areconnected by crossbar I I6 and move forward and backward on the railsII2 to move a candle carried thereby over the pattern-holder, comprisingbase I22 that is supported above the table or like surface I24 byscrew-type leveling legs I26. Variations of adjustment of the legs I26permit the base and pattern forming elements carried thereby to bealtered as to elevation and relative the horizontal.

The pattern-holder base I22 has heat supplied to it, preferably fromunderneath, by electric heating elements I28, or by comparable meanssuch as gas burners or steam coils, all in the conventional manner.Design elements of the nature previously described are mounted upon theupper surface base I22. Wax gutters I30 along the edges are used.

The carriages H4 and H each include a pair of spaced apart tandemarranged wheels joined by a tie-bar III which is rigid with shaft IISand tends to prevent the latter from turning about its axis as it moves.Bracket arms I32 are rigidly secured to shaft H6 in spaced apartrelation, each being located along one side of the base I22 and supportfor rotation the candle carrying cups and other means employed incausing the candle to rotate as the carriages are moved from end-to-endof the mechanism.

In Figure 14 I have shown in enlarged detail the candle-carrying cup I34that receives an end of the candle-in this instance, the lower end andimpales the same by means of pins I35. A shaft I36 is journaled in armI32 for rotation and is rigidly coupled to the cup I34. Shaft I36 ithreaded and receives the nut I38 or arm I39 which are secured to guideshaft I43 that passes through arm I32 and carries inboard of that armand below the cup I34 a notched level winder head I42, the details ofwhich are illustrated in Figure 16. As cup !34 rotates duringlongitudinal movement, shaft I36 rotates within nut I38 and causes it tomove toward or away from arm I32, the rotation of arm I39 beingrestrained by pin I43 which passes through a suitable hole in arm I32.Such action causes the head I42 to also move toward and away from armI32, depending upon the direction of movement of the carriage II4. Awire I44, anchored at its ends to supports II 0, passes around a drumI31 two turns and is intermediately anchored to the latter. Wire I44passes through and is lead by the notches of head I42, and is caused tobe Wound in a helical manner on the drum as the latter rotates. It willbe recognized that this mechanism comprises a timed drive for the cupI34 and, consequently, for a candle that may be positioned therein.

The opposite end of such a candle is attached to the mechanism of Figure15 that similarly comprises arm I34 that journals threaded shaft I48 andsupports the level winding mechanism comprising nut I38, arm I39 shaftI40 and head I42, as has been described.

Shaft I48 is hollow and slidingly receives on its inboard end the shaft549 that carries cup I53. Shaft I49 extends to a point in shaft I48 nearits outboard end where it has slots I if, through which extend the armsof cross-pin I52 that permit manual longitudinal movement of the shaftI49 relative shaft I48. These shafts rotate together. A drum I 54,carried by shaft I48, is wrapped by wire I36 in the manner and for thepurpose previously described. A spring I58 between cup and drum I54 urgethem apart. By insuring that the cups I59 and I34 are similarly wrappedby wires 56 and I44 respectively, these two cups and a candle mountedtherein will rotate synchronously as the carriages are moved forward orbackward on the rails I I 2.

The attachment of wires I44 and IE6 to the supports is accomplished byscrews I51 which permit their adjustment in timing rotation of the twocups.

In the pattern-holder of Figure 12, I have shown etching and printingelements I60, overprinting elements I62, and simple etching elements I64which will etch a previously printed area as a candle is rotatedthereover. It will be understood that the various printing areas I 60,and over-printing areas I 62, will be of the type described more simplyin connection with Figure 4, and that as a candle is rolled over thepattern-holder with slight surface contact with the upper edges of thedesign elements it will be etched and printed as set forth above. One additional operation upon the candle is illustrated in Figure 12 in thatthe design elements I64, which are simple etching members, will removeportions of a previously printed design area for highlighting or similarpurposes.

As before, the wax that is etched from the candle surface runs down theouter edges of the design elements and, in the case of Figure 12,gravitates to the edges and into the gutters for disposal.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, while I havedescribed the use of equipment and processes in connection withcylindrical and tapered candles, it is obvious that such is readilyusable to ornament conical and oval shaped candles and the like.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. The process of decorating candles formed of thermoplastic waxmaterial with a surface layer of thermoplastic overlay material,comprising: thermally forming on the surface of a candle an endlessgroove outlining a design element, and simultaneously applying withinsaid grooved outline and said groove a different colored thermoplasticWax overlay material.

2. A decorative candle formed of thermoplastic combustible wax bodyhaving an ornamental pattern element partially overlying its surface,said pattern element being of thermoplastic wax material fused to theface of the candle, said candle body being grooved along the peripheryof the pattern element, said groove having a portion of the overlyingpattern element material reposing therein.

3. A candle according to claim 2 in which there is a groove in thesurface of the candle within the pattern element and said groove issubstantially filled with the overlay material.

4. A candle according to claim 2 in which the pattern element has agroove within its periphery, said groove being deeper than the overlaymaterial and exposing the body of the candle.

5. A candle according to claim 2 in which the pattern element is ariband which extends in 10 spiral form between the ends of the candleand there are peripheral grooves partially filled with the overlaymaterial along the edges of the riband pattern element.

GIDEON A. KRAMER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 88,779 Field et a1 Apr. 13, 1869 398,995 Atterbury Mar. 5,1889 472,945 Forster Apr. 12, 1892 1,552,907 Binmore Sept. 8, 1925,576,205 Mertens Mar. 9, 1926 1,874,427 Billings Aug. 30, 1932 2,030,042Austin Feb. 11, 1936 2,331,983 Kaiser Oct. 19, 194

FOREIGN PATENTS 20 Number Country Date 151 Great Britain Feb. 11, 1893

